Rotherham abuse: Trio sentenced for historic rapes

Two men have been imprisoned for a combined total of fifteen years after being convicted of historic sex offences against a teenage girl in Rotherham, while a third defendant, already serving a significant term for similar crimes, received a further custodial penalty.

Kessur Ajaib, 44, and Mohammed Makhmood, 43, appeared before the Crown Court where they were sentenced to eight and seven years respectively. The indictments relate to the rape and abuse of a female victim who was just 14 years old at the time of the offences, which occurred two decades ago.

A third man, Sageer Hussain, 40, was handed an additional three-year term. This sentence is to be served consecutively to a nineteen-year term of imprisonment he is currently serving for separate rape convictions. The court was told that Hussain had been involved in the abuse of girls as young as 13 between the years 1999 and 2002.

During the trial, the prosecution presented evidence detailing the degrading treatment of the victims. The court heard that on one occasion, following a sexual assault, Makhmood subjected his victim to humiliation by spitting at her and laughing, exhibiting a "callous" disregard for her welfare.

Liz Fell, a Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, submitted that the defendants had "deliberately exploited" the vulnerabilities of the children they targeted. The convictions followed a complex investigation by the National Crime Agency, which relied heavily on the testimony of the victims—now adult women—to secure evidence corroborating crimes committed in the early 2000s.